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What’s On in the Cairngorms National Park

Friday, June 24th, 2011

There is loads going on this weekend in the Cairngorms National Park including the Aviemore, Blair Atholl, Deeside and Angus areas.(see below) A brilliant coup for the area is the Scottish Hydro Challenge being held this weekend at the Spey Valley Course at Aviemore with Scot, Chris Doak currently in the lead. A full list can be found at www.visitcairngorms.com/whatson but a selection of events are listed below.

Scopttish Hydro Challenge

Saturday 25th
• Charity Day in aid of Scotland’s Garden Scheme and Tay Valley Mountain Rescue – Blair Castle, Blair Atholl, 9.30am-5.30pm. www.blair-castle.co.uk
• Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team Sponsored Walk – Glen Feshie, £15/£10. www.cmrtwalk.org.uk
• Spey Art Group Painting Workshop – Inverallan Church Hall, 10am-4pm, £15. To Book T: 01479 872085/873101.
• Live Music with Alfie McQuade – Glen Hotel, Newtonmore, 9.30pm.

Sunday 26th
• Cairngorms Farmers Market – The Square, Grantown on Spey. 10am-4pm.
• Abernethy Open Gardens – Discover the treasures of private gardens in and around Nethy Bridge. Tickets & location map from local shops, £5. 10am-5pm. T: 01479 851347.
• Lairig Ghru Race – Braemar to Aviemore, 10am www.deesiderunners.com
• Hilton Around the World in a Day 5km Fun Run – Hilton Coylumbridge Hotel, Aviemore, 2pm. In aid of Hilton in the Community Foundation www.hilton-foundation.org.uk
• Live Music with ‘Blind & Deaf’ – The Club Bar, Hilton Craigendarroch Hotel, Ballater, 3-5pm.

11th June – 24th July
• Rachel Everitt Exhibition – The Iona Gallery, Kingussie. Illustration, printmaking and animation. Mon, Thurs, Fri 1-5pm. Sat-Sun 11am-5pm, FREE.
23rd-26th June
• Scottish Hydro Challenge – Macdonald Spey Valley Golf Course, Aviemore. www.teamscottishhydro.com

Saturday 25th June
The Eilan, Newtonmore – Newtonmore 1sts v Lovat. 2.30pm.
The Dell, Kingussie. Kingussie 2nds v Kilmallie. 2.30pm.

There are also some local open golf comps on this weekend see http://visitcairngorms.com/opengolf

Whatever you choose to do have a great weekend in the Cairngorms National Park…kick back and enjoy the scenery!

Posted in Accommodation Aviemore, aviemore, aviemore activities, aviemore hotels, ballater, Balmoral, Boat of Garten, braemar, cairngorms, cairngorms national park, Carr Bridge, Cromdale, Dulnain Bridge, Golf, grantown on spey, Kingussie, laggan, loch morlich, mountain biking, music, Nethy Bridge, Newtonmore, royal deeside, Shinty, Uncategorized, walking aviemore, Weather | No Responses »
Tags: accommodation, activities, attractions, aviemore, Cairngorm, cairngorms, cairngorms national park, holidays, scotland, whats on

Cairngorms Launches World’s First National Park iPhone App

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

The world’s first National Park I-phone App has been launched today, Monday 18th October, in the Cairngorms National Park by one of the country’s leading tourism and business organisations.

The VisitCairngorms App is the first app in the world to give visitors to a National Park the opportunity to obtain free, up-to-date information on where to stay, what to do and where to eat and drink based on their location within the Park.

In addition, the app will also allow visitors to access information on events taking place in the UK’s largest National Park.

Alan Rankin, Chief Executive of the Cairngorms Business Partnership, the organisation that has developed and launched the Cairngorms App, said: “It is incredibly exciting to be the first National Park in the world to launch a free information app specifically designed for visitors to the area and we are delighted to be leading the way. There are other National Park apps out there, but many are simply games, maps or overview apps – we have done our research and there are none out there that work in the way our app is designed – to get the customer in touch with local businesses and which are completely free to the user.“

The Cairngorms App gives the user the opportunity to search for restaurants, cafes activity providers and attractions closest to them wherever they are in the Cairngorms National Park. It will also tell the user how far away they are from any one business as well as giving them information on the company, Visit Scotland star ratings, contact information to make a booking and a link to the inbuilt Maps App giving them directions to where they are aiming to go. The area has a very effective website www.visitcairngorms.com and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter but the launch of the new app represents a first real step towards being able to communicate directly with visitors when they are moving around the area.

The I phone app is fed by a database of over 1200 listings and choices for the visitor and, like the website www.visitcairngorms.com, gets the customer to the business fast.

Rankin added. “Both the website and I-phone app are industry leaders in letting the user book a table, rooms or an activity within three clicks or taps. Customers now demand that information is immediately to hand. To date we have been able to provide great detail on the area via our website for what is mostly information gathering pre-departure, but now we have taken a massive leap forward in being able to provide customers live up to date information direct to their i-phones as they travel or visit the area.”

The app will identify the users location and then provide through Google Maps directions and a live map tracking their progress to the selected business. The app also provides directions by car, train or on foot to the chosen business.

The sometimes intermittent mobile signal within the Cairngorms National Park is also not a problem for the Cairngorms App as, explains Alan Rankin: “The app will automatically update when the user is within a mobile signal range in order to ensure that no-one misses out on the special offers and users can also gain the most relevant information to them at any one time.”

The Cairngorms Business Partnership decided to launch the App for the I-phone only to begin with following a study of the area that confirmed there was 5 times as many i-phone based enquiries to their website than all the other providers put together and nearly 15 times as many to that of second placed Blackberry users.

The project is supported by the Cairngorms National Park Authority and the Northern Periphery Programme funded Clim- ATIC Project.

For further information on the I-phone App or the Cairngorms Business Partnership, please contact info@visitcairngorms.com

Posted in Accommodation Aviemore, aviemore activities, cairngorms, food, records | No Responses »
Tags: aviemore, cairngorms national park, camping aviemore, food, holidays, restaurant, scotland, whats on

News release from Ski Scotland

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR SKIERS

Scotland’s weather has delivered an early Christmas present for skiers and snowboarders, with four of the country’s five mountain ski areas already operating, and the other expecting to open very soon. And with the snow and cold weather forecast to continue through the rest of the week and over the weekend, there should be plenty of opportunities to work off the excesses of Christmas dinner, cake and mince pies with some healthy skiing or boarding at CairnGorm, Nevis Range, the Lecht or Glenshee. Glencoe is also expected to open over the holiday period; although there is enough snow, the new owners have had to condense six months’ work into a very busy six week period, and a few extra days are still required before they’re ready to welcome skiers and boarders.

Heather Negus, Chair of ski-scotland, said, “there has been a fantastic early start to the Scottish ski season this winter – in fact, it’s the best since 1999! CairnGorm has already been operating for a few weeks, and this is the first time since 2003 that Nevis Range has opened for snowsports before Christmas. The forecast is also really promising for some great fun and wicked sliding over the holiday period.”

For the first time, the five mountain ski areas are offering an all-area five-day ski pass. These are valid for any five consecutive days at any of the five areas, and can be bought at any of the ticket offices: CairnGorm Mountain, Glencoe Mountain, Glenshee, The Lecht and Nevis Range. The new pass has been produced in response to customer demand, and will allow skiers and boarders to sample each area, stick with one, or follow the best snow and road reports. The pass can be used for five days at one ski area, one day at each ski area – or any combination – the only requirement is that the five days are consecutive.

Heather continued, “we’d also like to remind our customers to check road conditions before they leave – remember that some of our mountain ski areas are served by Britain’s highest roads, at well over 2,000ft above sea level. This can easily be checked on the official website www.ski-scotland.com where you can also check on lifts due to open and snow conditions, with webcam images, before you leave home, or on your mobile. And if the roads north are snowbound, there’s also the chance to whet your appetite for mountain skiing or boarding, in the Central Belt of Scotland, at SNO!zone in Glasgow.”

ENDS

Note to editors:

· For winter 2009/10, the 5-day all-area ski pass is only available for adults, cost £115. All five ski areas already offer good deals for children of different ages, with prices ranging from £10 for one day to £64 for 5 days, and offer family day tickets ranging from £70 to £90.

· Owners of all-area ski passes are advised that the pass is not transferable, and they therefore may be asked to show ID at individual ski areas. Otherwise, terms and conditions of use are those applied by the ski area where the ticket is being used.

· Winter 2008-9 attracted many people to the Scottish snowsports areas who have not visited before, or not for a long time. All the areas reported a high number of first-time visitors who normally ski or snowboard abroad – a positive spin-off from the current economic climate.

· The number of people who skied or snowboarded in Scotland in winter 2008-9 was 159,885, worth around £4M to the snowsports centres and at least £12M to the Scottish economy.

· Full snow and weather reports, with real-time webcam photos, can be seen in season on the official website www.ski-scotland.com

Posted in Accommodation Aviemore, aviemore, aviemore activities, cairngorms, Skiing Aviemore, Skiing Cairngorm, Snowboarding Aviemore, Snowboarding Cairngorm, Weather | 1 Response »
Tags: aviemore, Cairngorm, christmas, holidays, Skiing, Snow, Snowboarding, Weather

Cheap Accommodation Aviemore

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Hostel and Bunkhouse Accommodation in Aviemore and the Cairngorms

If you are looking for cheap affordable accommodation in the Aviemore and Cairngorms Area, then there is plenty on offer in the shape of Bunkhouses and Hostels. Here in the Cairngorms National Park there are many great hostels to stay in. In the Aviemore and Cairngorms area you have hostels in Newtonmore, Kingussie, Kincraig , Aviemore itself, Glenmore near Cairngorm Mountain, Boat of Garten, Carr Bridge, Nethy Bridge and Grantown on Spey. This is perfect for a quick getaway to do some walking, mountain biking and exploring of the Aviemore area.

At many times of the year, you can also find cheap self-catering houses, chalets and log cabins which when split between a few people are very affordable. The credit crunch does not mean you have to stop enjoying yourself! Have a look at www.visitcairngorms.com/accommodation-in-aviemore for lots of cheap accommodation in the Aviemore and Cairngorms area.

For Hostels and Bunkhouses in the Aviemore area see www.visitcairngorms.com/hostels Many of these hostels are Visit Scotland accredited and welcome groups, walkers and cyclists with special facilities to accommodate them such as bike racks and clothes drying facilities.

Another option for cheap accommodation is camping at one of our beautiful campsites in the Aviemore and Cairngorms area. Get close to nature and sleep underneath the stars. Rothiemurchus has a great campsite in the Rothiemurchus forest on the way up to Cairngorm Mountain about 2 miles from Aviemore – a perfect location to start or finish a trip up into the Cairngorms or Lairig Ghru. There are some great mountain bike and walking tracks to be found here. Dalraddy Caravan and Camping Park on Alvie Estate is also a great choice . The High Range Touring Camping and Caravan Park is situated on the edge of Aviemore close to La Taverna – a great Italian Restaurant and 5 minutes walk into Aviemore where you have everything you need for your holiday.

See www.visitcairngorms.com/campcaravan Book soon for this summer as many of the campsites were full for the main school holiday period last year.

Posted in Accommodation Aviemore, aviemore, aviemore activities, Boat of Garten, cairngorms, Carr Bridge, grantown on spey, Kingussie, mountain biking, Nethy Bridge, Newtonmore, walking aviemore | No Responses »
Tags: aviemore, Boat of Garten, bunkhouses, bunkhouses aviemore, cairngorms, camping aviemore, caravvaning aviemore, Carr Bridge, grantown on spey, holidays, hostels, hostels aviemore, kincraig, Kingussie, Nethy Bridge, Newtonmore, school holidays

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